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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24590596">hello love, my invincible friend</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/west_red/pseuds/west_red'>west_red</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Era, Coming Out, F/F, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Trans Character, Trans Colin Creevey, Trans Female Character, Trans Ginny Weasley, Transphobia, jk rowling is a stinky terf, lmao voldemort? i don't know her, so this fic is a big ol' "fuck you" to her, this is my wizarding world now joanne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:28:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24590596</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/west_red/pseuds/west_red</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The littlest Weasley, seventh to be born to her mother and father, was brought squealing and shrieking into a world with more brothers than anyone could ever hope for. Their cosy ramshackle home was always fit to bursting with people cooing at her, cradling her, rocking her to sleep, and her earliest years were rich with love, though unfortunately not rich with much of anything else.</p><p>It was only when she was about five years old or so, that she realised there was something terribly wrong: her brothers were treating her as if she were the same as them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>title from the song "i forget where we were" by ben howard</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>149</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>though i myself identify as a non-binary woman, i have never identified myself as being under the trans umbrella. i am a longstanding ally of the trans community, but if anything in this fic is offensive, harmful or triggering to trans people, please do not hesitate to let me know. we all have room to learn.</p><p>joanne "the terf" rowling unfortunately owns these characters, but not this story. as she is a disgusting transphobe, i hope this fic makes her angry. here, jo, enjoy. ginny is trans now.</p><p>i do have more ideas for this story i.e. ginny at hogwarts when she's older so i may add to it in future.</p><p>happy pride friends xoxo</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The littlest Weasley, seventh to be born to her mother and father, was brought squealing and shrieking into a world with more brothers than anyone could ever hope for. Some, only just older than herself, some, doting and protective and about to start school. Their cosy ramshackle home was always fit to bursting with people cooing at her, cradling her, rocking her to sleep, and her earliest years were rich with love, though unfortunately not rich with much of anything else.</p><p>It was only when she was about five years old or so, that she realised there was something terribly wrong: her brothers were treating her as if she were the same as them.</p><p>They were similar, of course, and she liked most of the same things as they did. She loved when Charlie would tell her facts about dragons as a bedtime story, when Fred and George created hybrid monsters out of her toys, when Percy sat her on his knee and let her point at the pictures in his school books, when Ron ambled around the garden pulling worms out of the dirt to show her. But she just knew there was something different about her, some kind of fundamental piece inside that meant she didn’t like being treated the same as her brothers. But at merely five years old, how could she find the words to explain any of this? She was only just getting the hang of her abc’s. So she tried to tell her family in other ways.</p><p>When George accidentally spat yards of sticky gum into her hair and her mother sat her down in the kitchen to attack it with her wand, she screamed and screamed when she saw the auburn strands falling past her shoulders to the floor. She sobbed herself sick the whole rest of the day, begging her mother to grow it back or she’d yell at the top of her lungs until she’d deafened them all. But her mother was stubborn and wouldn’t budge, so the littlest Weasley told the littlest lie.<br/>
“It’s because I want to look like Bill, Mum,” she sniffled, tugging at the soft spot her mother held for the bond between her eldest and youngest.<br/>
Molly sighed and shook her head, but melted a little all the same, and allowed her youngest a compromise. “I won’t grow it back for you, sweetheart, but why don’t we let it get longer in its own time, hmm?” (And secretly hoped this was a phase her youngest would grow out of before she joined her siblings at Hogwarts; Molly liked her children to have neat and tidy haircuts.)<br/>
The littlest Weasley wiped the snot off her nose and gave her mother a big hug, pleased that she’d gotten away with it. Truthfully, it wasn’t her brother Bill’s lengthening locks she wanted to copy, it was the stylish girls’ she’d seen in the village one day on an errand with her father. She thought they’d looked so pretty with their intricate braids and silky bows. She wondered if she could get Fred to steal some ribbon from her mother’s sewing draw, but when she asked he just laughed at her and stole her nose instead.</p><p>Then there was the issue with her name. The littlest Weasley knew it was some kind of inherited tradition to be named after a long-dead ancestor; she wondered if that’s why it had never really felt like hers. There was something wrong about it, the way it sounded in her ears, the way it tasted on her tongue. She began wrinkling her nose anytime her family called her by it, and luckily they seemed to pick up on it, choosing to shorten it to something only just a bit more bearable (though still very much Wrong).<br/>
It wasn’t until her eighth year alive that she truly realised what was going on. She’d been flicking through a Muggle childrens’ book her father had recently given her when she’d got to a page where a mouse and a rabbit were having a (rather silly and trivial) conversation (she really was a bit too old for picture books.) Having just decided to fling the book away and try to persuade Ron into a game of wizard’s chess, her eyes caught the name of the cartoon rabbit.</p><p><em>Ginevra</em>.</p><p>Something inside her stomach bubbled. Her cheeks burned and her hands came up to catch her gasp.</p><p><em>That’s a nice name</em>.</p><p>Suddenly hooked, she held the book as close to her face as she could without squashing her nose and began to read furiously.<br/>
A few lines later, her heart gave a jolting stumble. The rabbit had asked to be called <em>Ginny</em>, as the name <em>Ginevra</em> was far too long a name for a little bunny.</p><p><em>Ginny</em>.</p><p>Her grip slackened and the book fell with a soft <em>flump</em> onto her pillow. The littlest Weasley sat on her bed with a frantic pounding in her brain and an urgent echo ringing in her ears. Time seemed to stop ticking as she froze in a trance, her whole world whirling and whooshing and resettling around her. Hours later when she finally blinked back, her face was damp with tears and her palms had tiny red nail prints seared into the skin.</p><p>At dinner, if she was rather quiet and withdrawn her family didn’t mention it, and she was trying to seem as normal as possible, but it was very tricky when her mind was stuck spinning one word like a record on a gramophone.</p><p><em>GinnyGinnyGinnyGinnyGinny</em>.</p><p>The next few months were agony. Sneaking into the bathroom in the early hours of the morning to stare at herself in the mirror, leaning in so close her mouth made little clouds of condensation on the glass, and whispering in the quietest voice she dared: “My name is Ginny Weasley.” Meeting old friends of friends or her father’s work associates and having to grin and bear it when introducing herself with the Wrong Name, forcing herself to ignore the desperate shouting in her head - <em>that’snotmynamethat’snotmynamethat’snotmyname</em>. Having to accept her brothers’ hand-me-down clothes, clothes that felt as if they fit all wrong but looked as though they fit just right. She could feel herself coming to the end of her tether, something boiling inside her that needed to destroy all her feelings of unhappiness and discomfort. As much as it terrified her to express all that she had kept secret for so long, she knew she needed to stop living a life of lies.</p><p>The day she told her mother was a quiet kind of Tuesday; her father was at work in London, all her brothers except Ron were still at Hogwarts for the last few weeks of the summer term, and Ron himself was off tormenting the gnomes at the bottom of the garden. The littlest Weasley slunk into the kitchen where her mother was humming along to the radio and knitting a tower of socks that grew taller every hour. Her blood was racing under her skin, hot and panicked and nearly enough to send her sprinting back upstairs to hide under her duvet, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and focused her mind. Though she didn’t know what her mother would say (and was terrified to think of what she might say), she knew she couldn’t back down now; if she didn’t say anything today, she was worried she might never say anything at all, and the thought of living the rest of her life like this, bottled-up and miserable, was almost unfathomable. It was now or never.</p><p>“Mummy, can I tell you a secret?”<br/>
Her mother looked up to see her standing in the doorway and smiled invitingly, fingers never stopping their complicated weaving. “Of course you can, dear.”<br/>
Suddenly painfully shy in a way she never was around her mother, the littlest Weasley scurried her way into Molly’s lap, knocking the knitted pile of socks onto the floor, and buried her face into a warm and comforting shoulder.<br/>
“Oh! My love, what’s the matter?” her mother worried, smoothing a hand over the top of her youngest’s head.<br/>
The floodgates opened and it all came pouring out. “I don’t want to have my name anymore, I want to be called a different name, I want everyone to call me Ginny, like Ginevra except never actually call me Ginevra because it’s far too long a name for somebody small like me, so I want everyone to call me Ginny and I never want to cut my hair short again, not because of Bill’s but because of those girls in the village, and I want you to plait my hair and tie silky ribbons in it, and I don’t want to wear Charlie’s old clothes anymore, I want to wear my own clothes, I want to wear skirts and dresses but also still trousers too sometimes, and I don’t want anybody to treat me like my brothers ever again, because I’m not a brother, Mummy, I’m a girl.”</p><p>Molly Weasley sat with her youngest curled up in her lap, rocking her back and forth and taking in the muffles and gasps and panting gulps that fell between every other word, tears streaming down her cheeks as her littlest poured her heart out. After the two of them had calmed down enough to be able to speak without choking, Molly took her youngest’s face in her hands, defiant and red and snotty, and smoothed her thumbs under her eyes.<br/>
“Ginny?” she murmured, hesitant but fiercely wanting to understand.<br/>
“Yes,” Ginny mumbled, hardly daring to breathe with the hope that had started flowing through her.<br/>
“Oh, my darling!” her mother cried, leaning their foreheads together. “I’m so very proud of you for telling me. You’ve been keeping this inside a long time, haven’t you?”<br/>
Ginny nodded guiltily.<br/>
“Well now, don’t worry, never again, okay? I’m going to make you some lovely new dresses, and your father and I can take you to buy some ribbons at the weekend and….” Here she trailed off. “Do you want to tell your father yourself, Ginny? Or do you want me to have a word with him?”<br/>
Ginny said she wanted to tell him herself, suddenly very much wanting a big hug from her dad. Her eyes started leaking again from the sheer happiness and support radiating from her mother, and dug her nose back into her shoulder, no longer hiding, but resting.<br/>
“There now, chickie. And we can tell all your brothers when they come home soon, can’t we, and they’ll all give you a big hug, even Percy, and everything will be just the way it should be.” Molly turned her mouth to rest by her youngest’s ear. “Can I tell you a secret too?”<br/>
Ginny nodded slowly, curious.<br/>
Her mother held her even closer, and whispered in a voice full of joy and tears. “I always knew I was meant to have a daughter.”</p><p>And when she told Ron when he came in for tea, he smiled at her and asked if she wanted the other half of his pudding.<br/>
And when her father came home and she told him, he lifted her up and spun her around the room and gave her that all-encompassing dad hug she’d been craving.<br/>
And when her other brothers came home a few weeks later and she told them:<br/>
Fred tickled her sick and George blew a raspberry in her ear and they asked her if they could steal one of her new dresses to put on the neighbours’ cat.<br/>
Percy blinked a few times behind his glasses, kissed her forehead and gave her three chocolate frogs.<br/>
Charlie swung her up onto his shoulders and howled like a wolf and promised to let her learn a few tricks on his broomstick.<br/>
Bill stared at her for a long moment, eyes welling up, and when she stuck her chin out and angrily told him she was exactly the same as she was before, he crushed her to his chest and murmured “Oh, love, of course you are.”</p><p>And when her ninth birthday rolled around a few weeks later, Ginny Weasley felt her life was so rich with love as her parents carried her cake and presents into her room, gazing fondly at their <em>daughter</em>, and as her six brothers all squeezed in together on top of her bed, heartily singing to their <em>sister</em>.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i have taken a lot of liberties with combining my research into gender transitioning with jk's bullshit magic, so please tell me if anything is downright ridiculous and just Doesn't Work.</p><p>it's been a long time since i read any of the books so apologies if any of the characterisation is way off.</p><p>enjoy darlings xoxo</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The summer before Ginny was set to start her first year at Hogwarts, an official looking letter penned in emerald green ink sent the entire Burrow into a frenzy; Professors Albus Dumbledore and Minerva Mcgonagall had politely requested to visit the Weasleys for afternoon tea.</p><p>Never had all seven children been so busy cleaning and tidying, every single room scrubbed and dusted and disinfected from top to bottom (“But Mum, they’re only going to see the living room!”<br/>“That may be so, George, but I’m not taking any chances with the Headmaster; that man knows everything.”) Molly was set on presenting the best damned tea of her life, with sandwiches and cakes and buns and scones and jelly, all baked and readied with meticulous care.</p><p>And so, when Professors Albus Dumbledore and Minerva Mcgonagall turned up at the Burrow on a rather extraordinary Wednesday afternoon, they were met with spotless coffee tables laden with decadent sweetmeats and pastries galore - truly the best damned tea of their lives.</p><p>Arthur welcomed his old teachers with a warm handshake, and ushered them inside, where his children were lined up in height order in the hallway, each head of shockingly red hair neatly combed or tied up or plaited in French braids.<br/>“Ah, Bill, Charlie, how lovely it is to see you again,” Dumbledore greeted them, pleased to be reunited after the two eldest brothers had left school. “What are you boys up to these days?”<br/>“Interning at Gringotts, Professor,” said Bill.<br/>“Volunteering with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Professor,” said Charlie.<br/>“Good, good,” Dumbledore nodded. “I’m glad to hear you’ll both be as successful out here as you were at Hogwarts.” He carried on down the line, shaking Percy’s hand, winking at Fred and George, and patting Ron on the head. Then he got to Ginny.<br/>She peered up at this strange old man, wizened, eccentric, with peculiar half-moon spectacles and the longest beard she’d ever seen. Mcgonagall stood behind him, poised and professional and smiling politely. Ginny gulped.<br/>“The young Miss Weasley,” Dumbledore beamed. “I am so very pleased to meet you. I’m hoping we’ll become very good friends. Would you be so kind as to show myself and Minerva where we might find the magnificent tea we were promised?”<br/>Ginny nodded nervously, and began to shuffle her way to the living room. She glanced back at her brothers, all looking a bit apprehensive but still sending her encouraging smiles.</p><p>As Molly fussed about getting the professors comfortably seated with heaped platefuls of treats, and Arthur dictated the drink orders to the kettle, Ginny sank down onto a threadbare pouffe. Taking in these two strangers’ glorious robes of deep purple and green silk, she glanced down at her lap, her hands worrying the hem of last year’s summer frock fashioned from the kitchen curtains. She flushed strawberry red, awkward and on edge, and very much not wanting to have the upcoming difficult conversation with these people she didn’t know.</p><p>“Now, Ginny,” said Dumbledore, wiping away some stray crumbs at the corners of his mouth from a scone he’d already scoffed. “There’s no need to be nervous about our being here. Professor Mcgonagall and I only wanted to have a little chat with you before you enrolled so that we could ensure you have the same happy start to your schooling as all the rest of our students.”<br/>“Indeed,” Mcgonagall confirmed. “No need for any silly worrying. You’re not in any trouble.” Her eyes gleamed with a kind of fiery amusement, and Ginny found herself relaxing the tiniest bit.<br/>Turning to her parents, Dumbledore pulled out some parchment and an enchanted quill that immediately started taking down notes. “First things first, we’ve arranged for Ginny to be situated in the girls’ dormitory of whichever house she will be placed in (“my guess is Gryffindor,” in an aside to Mcgonagall), and we have informed each member of staff of her correct pronouns and name. Is that all alright with you, my dear?” He looked at Ginny kindly, who nodded mutely, a little overwhelmed.<br/>“The Sorting Hat will also be aware, so there will be no mixup at the ceremony,” Mcgonagall continued briskly. “Have you been fitted for your uniform yet, Miss Weasley?”<br/>“Not yet, Professor,” Molly chimed in from the other settee. “We’d been planning on taking them all in one go once their school lists came.”<br/>“Oh!” Dumbledore exclaimed. “No trouble, then, no trouble,” and reached inside his robes to pull out a hefty stack of five thick letters bundled together with white string. He extended them to Arthur, who accepted them gratefully.<br/>“Well, when you do go, Madam Malkin will be sure to provide you with the appropriate items. Now, to the matter of your transition.” Mcgonagall glanced at Dumbledore, who was happily helping himself to more cakes, sighed, and continued in her no-nonsense methodical brogue.</p><p>“Once you have arrived at Hogwarts - though not immediately, naturally we will allow you to settle in first - I will arrange a meeting between yourself, Miss Weasley, and the school’s head nurse, Madam Pomfrey. If you consent to it, Madam Pomfrey will aid you through some harmless medical tests, all very standard, nothing to worry about, so that she will be able to concoct a safe and sensible Hormone Blocker Potion that is catered specifically to your body’s needs. She will provide you with this potion to take every day up until you are sixteen, when we can start talking about potentially starting you on an Estrogen Potion, but that is all in good time, hmm? Madam Pomfrey has also assured us that she is happy to provide weekly counselling sessions for you, and also regular support and correspondence with your parents.” Mcgonagall regarded Ginny kindly, whose mind was racing with all this new information, and at her parents too, who were clutching each others’ hands tightly and frowning in deep concentration. “Please do not hesitate to bring up any qualms or questions.”</p><p>The room went rather silent, and it took Ginny a long moment to realise all four adults were looking at her expectantly. “Oh!” she cried. “No! No qualms or questions from me, it all sounds so… so very brilliant.” She felt incredibly honoured and humbled at the lengths it seemed these people were prepared to go to help her. “It’s all much more than I could ever ask for, truly.”<br/>“Anything we can possibly do to make sure you feel as comfortable as you can at Hogwarts, we will do it,” Dumbledore vowed, seeming to be done with his tea at last. His whole manner grew serious rather abruptly, and he leaned forward with his knobbly elbows on his knees. “And Ginny, you must promise to let a member of staff know immediately, your head of house or one of us or whoever, if anybody gives you any trouble for being who you are; whether that be verbal insults or being treated differently or any physical incidents” - all of them shuddered at the thought - “you must promise to tell us straight away so that we can sought it out and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”<br/>“I promise,” Ginny murmured solemnly.</p><p>A sudden scuffle was heard on the other side of the door, followed by a few moments of silence where the five of them looked at each other in confusion, before the door was flung open and six gangly ginger haired boys all toppled over one another into a tangled heap on the floor.<br/>“Excuse us, Professor,” Fred garbled as they all began to untwist their limbs and pull themselves up. “We didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it’s only that we heard you say to Ginny that she should tell you if she experienced any trouble, and well…”<br/>“She won’t need to worry about that,” Percy declared, adjusting his slightly squashed glasses. “She’ll have the four us looking out for her.”<br/>“Yeah!” Ron said fiercely. “Anyone that even looks at her funny will have my fist knocking against the end of their nose!”<br/>Molly and Arthur exchanged a shared look of fond exasperation (and the agreement to give them all a sound talking to later on about interrupting an important and confidential conversation) and Dumbledore nodded his head as if he hadn’t expected anything else. Ginny felt her whole body light up with love and affection for her brothers; she knew she’d be safe wherever she went as long as they were there with her too.<br/>Mcgonagall cleared her throat and gave the boys a stern look (with a proud twinkle in her eye cleverly concealed.) “Thank you for your assured support for your sister, Mr Weasley, only I must remind you that Hogwarts does not condone violence, and all instances and altercations are much preferred to be handled by members of staff.”<br/>Ron looked mortified at being reprimanded by a teacher outside of school, at home, in front of his entire family and seemed very much relieved to be shunted out of the room by his mother, while his brothers followed cursing and snickering at his heels.</p><p>Dumbledore chuckled as he stood up, offering his arm to Mcgonagall to join him. “What a wonderful family you’ve raised, Molly, Arthur. I am only sorry this will be the last Weasley I’ll get to welcome to my school for some time.” He extended an ancient hand out for the littlest Weasley to shake and slipped a small yellow sweet into her palm. “It really was a splendid pleasure to meet you, Ginny. I simply can’t wait for the Sorting Ceremony next month, Hogwarts shall be very happy to have you. Ta ta!” And with that he bowed out of the room, expressing his deepest thanks and gratitude to Molly for the tea and to Arthur for his hospitality. Mcgonagall dipped her head, chucked Ginny under her chin in a rare show of impishness, and swept after the headmaster in a whirl of sparks and skirts.</p><p>Ginny stood in the middle of a rug that was more floorboard than anything else, bemused and befuddled by the combination of whimsy and gravitas she’d just witnessed, and indulged in the surge of hope and potential that was fizzing in her chest. Her years at Hogwarts were clearly going to be as strange and intriguing as this first glimpse had been, and she couldn’t wait to experience them as exactly who she was always meant to be.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hadn't planned on having this chapter go this way but here we are. please do tell me if any of the language is triggering.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rest of that summer flashed by in barely a blink, sun-golden hours filled with broiling arguments about who was inheriting which book, which cloak, which quills. The trip to Diagon Alley was simply chaotic, each child clammering to go in five different directions at once. Ginny had been a few times before, of course, but it was so much more exciting when <em>she</em> had school supplies to buy, instead of helping her brothers find theirs.</p><p>She clutched her mother’s arm as tight as she could as they joined the bustling queue outside Ollivanders, and when they finally made their way inside, Mr. Ollivander himself shook her hand very tightly, peered at her with his piercing white-blue eyes, and told her quietly he was very glad to meet her at last.</p><p>Emerging with a very respectable 12” yew with a unicorn hair core and a delighted smile on her face, Ginny rejoined her brothers outside Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, buzzing with excitement and ready to gorge herself sick. Ron was fiddling with the seal of a new pot of ink, Fred and George were pouring over the latest edition of <em>Seeker Weekly</em>, Percy was dusting lint off of a black pointed hat, Bill and Charlie were trying not to laugh at a very small boy struggling to carry a very large cat, and Molly and Arthur were flipping through handwritten lists, crossing off items and discussing where they should go next. Once they’d all shared a couple of bowls of hazelnut banoffee cream sundae, the Weasleys collected their bits and bobs and scurried off to Flourish and Blotts.</p><p>The store was pleasantly busy, thankfully not too crowded, and the family split themselves into separate tasks; Arthur would help Fred and George locate <em>The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts</em> by Arsenius Jigger, and Molly would take Ron and Ginny around to gather up any books they hadn’t managed to find at home, or had found but couldn’t use (though hand-me-downs were useful for such a large family, they proved to be a bit touch and go once they’d passed through three studious boys and a mischievous set of twins.) Charlie dragged Bill and Percy off to find Newt Scamander’s latest guide to identifying dragon species, and so the day’s mission continued.</p><p>Ginny was running her fingers over the rather splendid cover of <em>Numerology and Grammatica</em> when she heard a pompous sniff and clearing of the throat from behind her. She turned to see a boy with slimy white-blond hair and an arrogant twitch to his nose, and judging from the glare Ron was sending him, she realised this could be none other than Draco Malfoy. The whole family had heard endless stories of the nasty things this bully had been up to last year, to Ron and his friends especially, and Ginny remembered various times her father had come home ranting about one Lucius Malfoy, a bigoted, power-hungry snob who clearly cared for no one but himself. She sighed heavily; she’d been having a really lovely day up until now, and this was already not looking good.</p><p>“Weasley,” Malfoy sneered. “I’m surprised to see you here, I didn’t think you could read.”<br/>
Ron blew through his nose slowly, evidently not wanting to cause a scene in public. “Leave us alone, Malfoy, we’re busy.”<br/>
Ginny started frantically scanning the other customers, hoping to catch the eye of one of her brothers, but she could only see Molly standing a little ways away, methodically counting the galleons in her purse, completely unaware of the impending confrontation.<br/>
Malfoy’s eyes lit up wickedly. “Us? Is your whole family here? I’m sure you’ll all go hungry for a month, paying for anything in here.”<br/>
Ginny saw red, and moved to stand next to her brother, seething. “He said, leave us alone.”<br/>
Emotions began to flick across the boy’s face - glee, disgust, confusion, malice - so quickly Ginny was reminded of one of those metallic fish that catch the sun and light up in different colours.</p><p>“And look who we have here,” Malfoy hissed, practically frothing at the mouth. “The runt of the litter, the biggest disgrace of all. Your family’s reputation as blood traitors to the whole of wizarding kind was already established before you were even born, little weasel, but your embarrassing Muggle liberal fantasy has sullied it ten times over. Your ridiculous notions caused quite the stir at the Ministry, you know, my father told me; just the idea of a filthy little boy dressed up in his mummy’s clothes, how-”<br/>
Ron lunged forward but a firm hand caught his chest and pushed him back. Through the all-consuming burning swill of nausea churning in her stomach, Ginny saw Percy darting through shoppers to fetch their father, and heard Bill speak up from his place standing directly in front of her.<br/>
“You’d better watch what you’re saying, Draco,” he threatened. “One more word about my sister and you’ll be sorry you were ever born.”<br/>
Malfoy snarled, but reluctantly seemed to stand down as Arthur and Percy appeared in front of him, Fred and George hot on their heels with menacing glares. Charlie wrapped a warm arm around Ginny’s shoulder and guided her over to where Molly was staring at the scene, aghast.</p><p>“What’s going on Charlie?” her mother worried.<br/>
“Malfoy’s boy’s spewing some shit about Ginny,” Charlie muttered darkly.<br/>
Molly cursed and rushed over to join the throng where Arthur was clearly giving Draco a strict talking to. Charlie pulled Ginny closer and started leading her towards the exit. “C’mon, let’s get you out.”<br/>
But Ginny stopped in her tracks before they were halfway there. Materialising out of some corner was a tall imposing man with white hair falling around his shoulders in silk ropes.<br/>
“Uh oh,” Charlie groaned. “Lucius. Dad’s gonna kill him.”<br/>
Ginny turned her face into her brother’s shoulder and peeped through squinted eyes at where her father and his colleague were sizing each other up. She felt sick, terrified, unsafe. This was the first time someone had called her a freak so blatantly to her face, and she wanted nothing else but to go home immediately. But she was frozen, unable to tear herself away from the escalating situation.</p><p>“Weasley,” Lucius was saying, gloved hand squeezing his son’s shoulder, twin looks of displeasure forming on the pair of them. “Might I ask why you were speaking so disrespectfully to my son?”<br/>
“Might I ask why your son was speaking so disrespectfully to my daughter?” Arthur retaliated. “Though I can’t say I’m surprised you haven’t taught him any decency, Lucius, seeing as you have none yourself.”<br/>
Lucius’ lip curled, aware they were beginning to attract a bit of an audience. “I see no need to teach him to entertain acts of delusion from clearly unwell and unstable individuals. Do us all a favour, Arthur, and do the same for your boys. Come along now, Draco.” And with that, the Malfoys disappeared out the door.</p><p>“I’ll kill him,” Ron growled. “Next time I see him I’ll kill him.”<br/>
“Which one?” Percy said through clenched teeth.<br/>
“Oh, what a horrible man,” said Molly. “If only I’d got here sooner I’d have given him a piece of my mind. Arthur, dear, are you alright?”<br/>
Arthur shook his shoulders a bit and banished the furious look from his face with a blink. “Nevermind me, how’s Ginny?”<br/>
The family looked around wildly for a moment before spotting Ginny and Charlie leant against a nearby wall, her older brother sadly unable to have kept her from hearing the Malfoys’ cruel words.<br/>
“Ginny, sweetheart,” her mother hurried over and swept her up. “Oh darling, I’m so sorry you had to hear that.”<br/>
Ginny had been silently crying from the moment she’d seen the pure hatred surface on Lucius’ face, and her voice came out all muffled and shaky. “It was so horrid, Mum.”<br/>
“I know, I know, and I’m sorry we didn’t stop it sooner, I’m sorry we couldn’t protect you.”</p><p>Ginny lifted her face from Molly’s neck and gazed through glassy eyes at her wonderful family. <em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at Ron, who’d stuck up for her the moment Draco had waltzed over.<br/>
<em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at Fred and George, who were obviously already planning the many ways they’d make Malfoy pay through heartfelt yet morally questionable pranks.<br/>
<em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at Percy, who was still visibly upset, and fuming at the corruption and abuse of power Lucius had displayed.<br/>
<em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at Charlie, who’d tried with all his might to comfort her and keep her safe from the callous words designed to destroy her.<br/>
<em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at Bill, who’d placed himself in front of her without a second thought, and who she knew would do the same for any spell, any attack, any cutting word thrown her way, no matter what it would do to him.<br/>
<em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at her mother, who was already verbally composing her strongly worded letter to Dumbledore about how behaviour like this at Hogwarts could not be accepted.<br/>
<em>But you did</em>, she thought, looking at her father, who’d defended her to one of his superiors, knowing it might cost him his job, his reputation, his respect from his peers.</p><p><em>But you did</em>, she thought, as they all trundled towards the nearest Floo station, shaken and sick, but flooded with peace at the thought of being at home with her marvelous, lively, <em>protective</em> family.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the terf rowling is back on her bullshit and i am full of rage and exasperation. have a chapter my darlings xoxox</p><p>she is not what we are. she is nothing.</p><p>trans people are important, they are loved, and they are so much more brilliant than jkr has ever been.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Standing next to the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 3/4 in her boxy shapeless grey skirt, thick tights and sensible shoes, Ginny had truly never felt more excited. For years she had waved her brothers off at the start of term, clamouring and whining and longing to go with them, and cursing the fact that she was <em>still too young</em>. Now, finally, it was her turn.</p><p>The moment the family had burst through the barrier, Percy was off to find the other newly-appointed Prefects, Fred and George barrelled off in search of their mate Lee Jordan, and Ron had spotted the friends he’d made last year: Harry Potter, a smiley boy with charmingly unruly hair, and Hermione Granger, who could probably tell you something about anything if she set her mind to it. Bill and Charlie had come along to see Ginny off, and were keeping her close to the two of them, gazing around with amused nostalgia at the chaos surrounding them.</p><p>Once her father had sorted out Ginny’s cases in the luggage cart, the two parents, oldest, second oldest and littlest Weasley all stood together in the bustling throng, trying to make time for a goodbye while the station master’s whistle seemed to get louder and louder every moment.<br/>“Now, make sure you try and find Ron on the train, won’t you, he and his lovely friends will help you settle in, and make sure the twins don’t start any trouble too early, and I’ve told Perce to check up on you a few times during the journey so you’re not to worry, and-”<br/>“Molly, love, take a breath, I’m sure Ginny will be just fine,” Arthur laughed and wrapped a comforting arm around his fretting wife.<br/>“I know,” she sighed, “I just can’t believe it’s finally here, having to say goodbye to our last little one, our little girl… Merlin’s beard, Gin, you look so grown up!” Molly was clearly struggling with the overwhelming urge to burst into tears, beside herself with the realisation that her youngest child was about to leave the nest. Her eyes were bright as she clasped her daughter to her as tight as she could, and a few tears trickled out at the sound of the final whistle. “Oh, lord, it’s time already, you’d better hurry sweetheart.”</p><p>Ginny pounced at her father, receiving a simply magnificent dad hug and a few whispered words of love and encouragement. Turning to her brothers, she gasped out a laugh at their glistening red-rimmed eyes.<br/>“Charlie, Bill! You’re not crying, are you?”<br/>“S’just the smoke,” Charlie sniffed as Bill wiped his cheeks with his sleeve.<br/>She wrapped a little arm around each of their necks and squeezed with all her might, feeling warm and surrounded by their tall frames. “You’ll write to me?” she murmured, feeling traitorous tears of her own start to well up.<br/>“As often as you like,” Bill said as he pressed a kiss into her hair.<br/>“Come along now Weasleys, or Ginny’ll miss the train,” said Arthur, reluctantly breaking up the embrace with a last pat to Ginny’s head.</p><p>Scrambling up the steps of the nearest carriage, and leaning dangerously far out of the window to wave goodbye, Ginny laughed madly as the wind picked up and started blowing her family’s hair across their faces. She stretched her arm out as far as it would go, laughing and crying simultaneously, and her fond farewells were lost among the shouts and cries of the children next to her. Her heart tugged as she realised it would be many months before she saw her home and family again, but she was comforted at the thought of having four of her brothers close to her throughout the long term. As the train picked up speed and finally pulled away, her loved ones faded into ginger ants on the disappearing platform, and Ginny clambered back inside the train car, took a deep breath, and began her exploration.</p><p>The whole train was teaming with students, all chattering and hugging and calling out to one another. Each compartment was full of friends reuniting, tales of summer being swapped, and overly-excited first years stumbling over each other in their eagerness to introduce themselves. Ginny decided she didn’t particularly want to join any of them, figuring she’d meet them soon enough at the feast and Sorting Ceremony; right now she longed for an empty booth so she could kick up her legs and marvel at the blurry countryside as she stewed in her own anticipation.</p><p>It took her a while, but she eventually found a quieter section near the back of the train. She’d passed Ron and his friends and popped her head in to say hello but she hadn’t wanted to intrude, there was no sign of Fred and George and she supposed Percy would find her soon enough, so Ginny felt content with her decision as she slid open the door to a blissfully empty booth.</p><p>Only to find it wasn’t empty at all.</p><p>Chunky boots, skinny knees, a giant grey jumper and long yards of curly white-blonde hair were sprawled out across the red velvet bench to Ginny’s left. Small pale hands were holding a magazine upside down, and at the startling sound of the door slamming closed, the glossy pages landed with a slap onto the occupant’s face.<br/>“I’m sorry!” Ginny yelped. “I didn’t mean to disturb you, I thought this booth was empty.”<br/>The gangly limbs sat up, revealing the face of a girl with huge blue eyes. “Oh, that’s alright,” she said dreamily. “I was only in here because nobody would let me lie down to test the angle of the benches. This one leans much too far forward anyway, it’s not really any good. I’m sure the corridor is plenty comfy.” And she made to stand up.<br/>“Wait! There’s more than enough room for both of us in here, if you don’t mind me joining you that is, and I’d feel so bad if you were out in the corridor on your own.”<br/>The girl’s face lit up, practically radiating moonlight. “I don’t mind at all.”</p><p>The two of them sat opposite each other in pleasant silence for a while, Ginny gazing out of the window, the girl lying back down with her topsy-turvy magazine.<br/>“I’m Ginny Weasley,” said Ginny eventually, thinking she ought to be polite.<br/>“I’m Luna Lovegood,” said the girl. “We live near each other.”<br/>“We do?”<br/>“Yes. Daddy and I live in the Rookery over the hill. I can see the top of your house from my room.”<br/>“Oh,” Ginny frowned, surprised. “I can’t believe we’ve never met.”<br/>“That’s alright,” said Luna. “Daddy says your family is very busy. I’ve seen you with your brothers in the village. They’re very loud.”<br/>Ginny laughed. “Yes, they are.”<br/>“I knew I’d meet you at Hogwarts, so I didn’t worry.”<br/>Ginny peered at her apparent neighbour with curiosity. Luna had a lovely lilting voice and a very calming presence. She found herself hoping they’d be sorted into the same house.<br/>“Can I ask you something?” she said, hesitant but intrigued.<br/>“Of course.”<br/>“Why are you reading that upside down? Doesn’t it make your eyes hurt?”<br/>“Oh no,” Luna shook her head. “Daddy once wrote an article with a secret hidden upside down code, and I’ve never bothered to switch back. It’s much more fun this way, I can make up what the words mean.”<br/><em>How strange she is</em>, thought Ginny. <em>Strange, but also quite brilliant</em>. “Your dad writes articles?”<br/>“For the Quibbler,” Luna hummed. “A lot of people think it’s all nonsense but he works very hard.”<br/>“I’ve never read it,” Ginny admitted.<br/>“I’ll lend you a copy,” Luna smiled, and Ginny said she’d like that very much.</p><p>The door of their compartment swung open with a bang and the two girls nearly jumped half out of their shoes. A small and mousey looking person launched towards them with an arm outstretched and shook their hands vigorously. “Hello, I’m Colin Creevey, I’m trying to meet all the first years before we get Sorted, I’ve met seven so far, so that makes you eight and nine!”<br/>Ginny and Luna blinked at this ball of energy as he collapsed next to Ginny.<br/>“Isn’t this exciting! My family are Muggles, I’d had no idea magic even existed until I got my acceptance letter! Are you Muggles too - I mean Muggle-borns, ooops - and also what are your names?”<br/>Having slightly adjusted to the sudden change of pace, Luna introduced herself and said she was a Pureblood, and Ginny did the same. Colin’s eyes widened and glued themselves to Ginny.<br/>“Are you really Ginny Weasley? Oh wow, I can’t believe I found you so quickly! Is it really true, are you really the same as me?”<br/>Ginny was perplexed by this boy’s recognition of her. “What do you mean?”<br/>“The same as me, you know, just the other way round, of course,” Colin prattled on. “Born in the wrong body, changed your name, living as your true self and all that. Professor Dumbledore said I should make sure to meet you before lessons start but I’d never imagined it would happen on the train!”</p><p>Ginny felt her cheeks drain of all colour and her heart began to shudder like a dog in chains. She’d already known all her teachers would know about her gender identity, but she’d never really considered what it would be like for other students to know too. Ginny hadn’t decided if she even wanted everyone to know she hadn’t always presented herself as she did now - she just wanted to be thought of and treated like any girl would be. The secret fear she’d been harbouring ever since her confrontation with the Malfoys reared its ugly head anew; what if other people thought she was weird and wrong, and insulted her, bullied her for it? This boy, Colin, didn’t seem to be on the verge of making fun of her, but she wasn’t sure she liked that a stranger knew something so intimate and personal about her before they’d even met.</p><p>Giving herself a little inward shake, Ginny calmed herself down by thinking it wasn’t a bad thing that this boy knew, because he was clearly excited they had this special thing in common. The thought of meeting other people who were like her at Hogwarts had never occurred to Ginny before now, and she felt suddenly foolish. Flashing Colin a shaky smile, she said she was very pleased to meet him, though she was silently wondering why Dumbledore hadn’t told her (but <em>had</em> told Colin) there would be someone in the same boat as her, someone who meant she wouldn’t be in this all alone. She turned towards Luna, terrified her new friend would meet this reveal with anger and disgust, but the white-haired girl was taking turns bestowing her peaceful smile between the two of them, and Ginny felt her heart rate start to slow down. Maybe everything was going to be okay.</p><p>“Maybe we could go to see Madam Pomfrey together, you know, about the Hormone Blocker Potion?” Colin was saying eagerly as Ginny pulled herself fully back to the train carriage. <br/>“Yeah, maybe we could do that,” she nodded, surprised to find herself rather keen on the idea. <br/>“Great!” Colin bounded to his feet and slid open the door. “Well, it was really nice to meet you, I hope we’re sorted into the same house! Bye Ginny, bye Luna!” And with that, Colin Creevey was gone.</p><p>Luna chuckled into the abrupt silence. “What a very jumpy boy.”<br/>Ginny agreed, and they both sat and smiled, regarding each other with much more maturity than two eleven year olds should really be able to bear.<br/>“I love your hair,” Luna exclaimed without preamble, pointing to the two neat little plaits adorned at Ginny’s temples like a daisy-chain. “Do you think you could teach me at some point, Daddy’s hopeless at that kind of thing, and my mother never got round to showing me how.”<br/>“Why don’t we start now?” Ginny asked through her blush. “We’ve a long train journey yet, the trolley’s not even come round for lunch.”<br/>Luna beamed like the moon, and abandoned her magazine with a flourish, perching beside her new friend with a soft yet vibrant enthusiasm. And as the lush green trees continued to whiz past the window, Ginny felt all her nerves settle, calmed by the presence of a celestial near-stranger.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my hatred for joanne the terf is as strong as ever, in fact it burns more brightly with each month and with each deeply hurtful transphobic thing she says. fuck you joanne xx enjoy the chapter dearies</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rest of that train journey was spent with the two of them weaving complex patterns into each others’ hair and uncovering little pieces of one another. Ginny learnt that her new friend’s favourite colour was canary yellow, that she’d been travelling all over the world with her father looking for rare and exotic magical creatures, and that her favourite author was Newt Scamander. They spent a long time engaged in a very passionate discussion about dragon species, and Luna was thrilled to have found someone who was just as interested in the subject as she was (Ginny was thrilled that she’d listened to Charlie ramble on all of those times.) When the trolley came round, Luna bought them each a chocolate frog and Ginny shared her sandwiches, both relishing in the very pure joy that comes from having a new friend to share with.</p>
<p>They were interrupted a couple more times, twice by Percy on his rounds - who shook Luna’s hand very formally and gave Ginny a lovely proud smile at the fact that she’d already made a friend - once by Fred and George, who chucked them a packet of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and yanked good-naturedly at Ginny’s intricate plaits, and once even by Ron, who smiled a little awkwardly at Luna and told them they were welcome to sit with him and his friends at the feast.</p>
<p>“You’re lucky,” Luna murmured after Ron had left them with a friendly wave. “I’ve never had a brother. I’ve never even had a friend.”<br/>Ginny realised that it was sort of the same for her; though she’d always had her brothers around, they weren’t exactly the same as having friends. As lovely as those sibling bonds were, she was looking forward to hanging out with somebody she wasn’t related to. <br/>“Didn’t your mum want any more children after you?” she asked as she unwrapped her second sandwich. <br/>“My mum died two years ago,” Luna said in her typically dreamy voice. Though her tone hadn’t changed, Ginny thought she looked a little sadder around her eyes. “It’s just me and Daddy in the house now, though I suppose the gnomes in the garden are a bit like brothers when they let me put them in bibs and bonnets.” <br/>Ginny got the sense that she didn’t want to be consoled, so she decided not to say she was sorry, though her heart clenched for this poor lonely thing who still seemed so optimistic despite her mother’s tragic passing. <br/>“You’ve got me as a friend now,” she said instead. “And I’m sure the girls in your dorm will want to be friends with you too.” <br/>“I hope we’re in the same dorm,” Luna beamed. “Then we could sleep in beds next to each other and take turns swatting away the Dream Gnats.”</p>
<p>They arrived at Hogsmeade Station to a pitch black sky filled with hundreds of stars. The train ride had been a little too long for Ginny’s liking, and her bum was a bit numb. She was glad it’d be a good few months before she’d have to sit through one of those again. <br/>Ginny and Luna shared a boat on the trip across the lake, watching the reflection of the moon break apart in shimmery ripples. They could feel the air around them begin to grow tense with nerves and excitement.</p>
<p>If Ginny were being honest, she’d admit that most of the boat ride, Mcgonagall’s welcome speech, and the start of the Sorting Ceremony were a bit of a blur. She’d waited to be here for such a long time and it was all she could do now but tip her head back and let her mouth hang open, awed at the grandeur of the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling, the rows upon rows of witches and wizards. She saw her brothers waving at her frantically from the Gryffindor table, and waved frantically back.</p>
<p>“Lovegood, Luna.”</p>
<p>Ginny whipped her head back around towards the Sorting, and crossed her fingers in the pocket of her robes for good luck. She andI Luna had both said they didn’t mind whichever house they ended up in, but that they did really want to end up in the same one, and had promised each other to hold their thumbs whilst the other was being Sorted.</p>
<p>Ginny watched Luna float towards the stool, and the brim of the Hat came down past her eyes to the bridge of her nose. A tense few seconds passed where Ginny held her breath, and then-</p>
<p>“Ravenclaw!”</p>
<p>Though she felt her spirit droop, Ginny forced her hands to clap loudly and her mouth to smile widely at her friend. Secretly, she had known it was 99% certain she’d end up in Gryffindor like the rest of her family, and if Luna were to be Sorted anywhere else, there was no chance they’d end up in the same house. Still, through her disappointment and the cheers from the Ravenclaw benches, she knew Luna would be perfectly suited to the house of wit, learning and wisdom. That girl’s innate sense of curiosity would be fuelled and nourished, Ginny was sure of it.</p>
<p>She zoned out for the next few Sortings, not invested enough in any of the students to really care (though she had noticed earlier when an ecstatic Colin Creevey had sprinted over to the Gryffindors, and indulged herself in a satisfied nod.) She was brought back around by Mcgonagall calling her own name, the last on the list.</p>
<p>“Weasley, Ginevra.”</p>
<p>Trying hard not to flinch - nobody had ever called her Ginevra before, even though it was technically her official first name - Ginny climbed up the dais with her pulse pounding in her throat as all eyes turned to look at her. She willed her cheeks and ears not to flush that bright strawberry colour that clashed horribly with her hair when she was embarrassed, but judging by the heat crawling up her skull, she hadn’t been very successful.</p>
<p>The Sorting Hat fell past her eyes and hung around her nostrils, emitting a musty yet comforting smell. “Yet another Weasley, eh?” crooned a voice in her ear. “Well, you do seem to possess that same stubborn nerve your parents and brothers did. However, strictly Sorting by shared blood has not always necessarily been the wisest of decisions. Let’s see what else you’ve got going on up here.” <br/>Ginny tried not to fidget, wishing the Hat would hurry up and be done with it; she was very aware she was holding up the feast. <br/>“A fierce determination to be seen as you are, a courageous conviction in your own existence, an unassuming yet steadfast streak of bravery… yes, I do believe my initial hunch was correct, you clearly belong in GRYFFINDOR!”</p>
<p>The roar that went up was deafening; Percy, Fred, George and Ron had all lept to their feet and were hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs, hammering on the tables, pounding and stomping at the floor, and it seemed like they’d wrangled most of the rest of the house to join them. Professor Mcgonagall gave Ginny a very satisfied smile as she lifted the Hat off her head and gave her a hand to help her off the stool. Ginny felt a huge knot untangle itself from constricting her chest that she hadn’t realised was there, and breathed deeply from a place that was singing inside of her. <br/>As she trotted over to join her brothers, she sought the eye of her friend from the train, and found Luna beaming serenely at her, patting a hand over her heart as if to say she was very happy for her, and that this was not going to get in the way of their newly forming bond. Ginny grinned back, and sank down next to George, ready to start gorging herself on all the richly gleaming food she could, only to have her hand immediately and firmly shaken by a boy with a crisp Highland lilt introducing himself as Oliver Wood, who told her he very much hoped she took after Charlie with her skills on a broom.</p>
<p>Reeling from the bustling atmosphere of the Great Hall and the raucous chattering echoing all around her as friends old and new caught up after a summer apart, Ginny was giddy from the heady rush of being so fully and warmly accepted by the whole of the Gryffindor table. She met the twins’ friend Lee Jordan, the rest of the Quidditch team, two bickering boys called Dean and Seamus, a boy with a toad and a nervous smile named Neville, not to mention the rest of the first years she’d been Sorted with. Ron’s friends Harry and Hermione smiled kindly at her in between mouthfuls of roast potato, and Colin Creevey waved manically at her every few minutes or so, which Ginny couldn’t help but laugh at, it was almost too sincere. <br/>To be so whole-heartedly welcomed with open arms was nearly overwhelming, and it was with a full stomach and a full heart when she toddled after Percy (chest puffed out proudly as he rejoiced in his absolute favourite pastime: telling people what to do) and the other first years through the castle corridors, all the way through the common room and up to the dormitories.</p>
<p>Faced with the two separate doors, one for the boys and one for the girls, Ginny felt a shot of ice stab her in the pit of her gut, and her good mood vanished as all her simmering anxieties returned. She’d heard stories of Ron’s escapades from the year before when he and Harry had tried to visit Hermione in her dorm, and the staircase had refused them entry, rejecting them as it recognised they did not belong inside. Although Dumbledore had said it had all been arranged for her to be placed in the girls’ dormitory, what if the intrinsic magic of the castle didn’t recognise her for who she was? What if the stairs smoothed over and she was shunted all the way to the bottom in front of all these people? Ginny’s panic must have been showing on her face as Percy began herding the others into their respective rooms, hanging back himself to squeeze her hand reassuringly and whisper: “Don’t worry, you’ll be surprised at how intuitive these old walls can be.”</p>
<p>Giving her brother a watery smile, Ginny put on a brave face (<em>you are a Gryffindor now, start acting like one</em>) and tentatively stepped up onto the first stair. Nothing happened. The scarlet carpet remained as it had been, and, if anything, the walls leading up to the landing seemed to sigh in fond recognition, as if happy to welcome one whom they knew belonged here.</p>
<p>Collapsing onto her bed once she’d made her way up and inside, Ginny barely remembered to change into her pajamas, she was so exhausted from the tumultuous emotions she’d been bombarded by all day. Amid quiet goodnights from the other girls and hushed promises to get to know each other more over breakfast, images of timetables and classes, exploring nooks and crannies, having her brothers show her around, spending time with Luna among the grounds, and getting to meet the school medic and start her physical transition whirled around the littlest Weasley’s head, and it was a deep and dreamless sleep she fell into once her excited mind had calmed itself with a contented <em>this is only the beginning</em>.</p>
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